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SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon and Apple on Thursday reported earnings that topped market expectations, aiming for even better days ahead with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).

"Inside Amazon, every one of our teams is working on building generative AI applications that reinvent and enhance their customers' experience," chief executive Andy Jassy said during an earnings call.

Apple views AI and machine learning as "core fundamental technologies that are integral to virtually every product that we build," company boss Tim Cook told analysts while discussing the iPhone maker's quarterly earnings.

"It's absolutely critical to us," Cook said of AI.

He cited crash detection and other iPhone features as technologies that "wouldn't be possible without AI and machine learning". Crash detection presents a user with a prompt for an emergency call if a handset senses a collision.

"We've been doing research across a wide range of AI technologies, including generative AI for years," Cook said.

"We're going to continue investing and innovating and responsibly advancing our products with these technologies."

Apple reported modestly higher profits in the recently ended quarter despite another dip in revenues, as a record performance in services offset lower iPhone sales.

Executives spotlighted increased sales in China and several key emerging markets that helped to compensate for declines in the United States where the iPhone sales have ebbed in a saturated smartphone environment.

Profits for Apple's third fiscal quarter were $19.9 billion, up 2.3 per cent from the year-ago period. Revenues again declined, this time by 1.4 per cent to $81.8 billion, the third straight quarter with a year-over-year decline.

Bright spots for the tech giant included an "all-time high" in services revenue, comprised of the App store, Apple pay and Apple TV and other subscription services.

AI for all? 

Amazon reported a quarterly profit that trounced market expectations, driven by strong sales helped by its annual prime discount event.

The e-commerce giant said it made a profit of $6.7 billion in the recently ended quarter, eclipsing earnings forecasts.

"It was another strong quarter of progress for Amazon," the company's chief executive Andy Jassy said in an earnings release.

The e-commerce colossus boasted of having its "biggest Prime Day event ever" in July, with subscribers to the Amazon service worldwide ordering more than 375 million items.

Order delivery speeds in the US were the fastest ever, with Amazon continuing to work on optimising efficiency and lowering costs at fulfillment centres, according to the company.

Jassy in March laid out a plan to cut 9,000 more jobs from the online retail giant's workforce, following the 18,000 that were axed in January.

Jassy told his workers at the time that the extra layoffs were necessary as the company seeks a way to downsize after years of sustained hiring by the Seattle-based company.

"The upturn in Amazon's commerce business is an encouraging sign for the back half of the year," said Insider Intelligence principal analyst Andrew Lipsman.

Revenue taken in by the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing unit increased to $22 billion in a year-over-year comparison, but costs climbed as well, resulting in a lower operating income than in the same period in 2022.

"Our AWS growth stabilised as customers started shifting from cost optimisation to new workload deployment," Jassy said.

"AWS has continued to add to its meaningful leadership position in the cloud with a slew of generative AI releases."

AWS remains a concern, however, and pressure is on to show growth as the broader economy recovers and companies invest in cloud-based computing power, according to analyst Lipsman.

Amazon is seeing more businesses focus on shifting systems to the cloud, where they can save money and tap into AI capabilities, Jassy said on the earnings call.

AWS is investing heavily in being a place where AI models are trained and put to work for businesses, according to Jassy.

"What we're doing is democratising access to generative AI; lowering the cost of training and running models," Jassy said.

"We think AWS is poised to be the longterm partner of choice in general AI."

Amazon shares were up more than eight per cent to $140.25 in after market trades.

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia announced Thursday it is extending a voluntary oil production cut of one million barrels per day for another month, keeping up its campaign to prop up prices. 

"Saudi Arabia will extend the voluntary cut of one million barrels per day... for another month to include the month of September," the energy ministry said in a statement.

The cut, which first took effect for July, could be further prolonged or even deepened, the energy ministry added.

The move leaves daily production by the world's biggest crude exporter at approximately nine million bpd. 

The "voluntary cut comes to reinforce the precautionary efforts made by OPEC Plus countries with the aim of supporting the stability and balance of oil markets", the energy ministry said.

Announcing the cut following a June meeting of the 23-nation OPEC+ alliance, which also includes Russia, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman noted that it was potentially "extendable". 

It followed a decision in April by several OPEC+ members to slash production voluntarily by more than one million bpd — a surprise move that briefly buttressed prices but failed to bring about lasting recovery. 

Oil producers are grappling with falling prices and high market volatility, reflecting continued fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and China's faltering economic recovery. 

Saudi Arabia is counting on high oil prices to fund an ambitious reform agenda that could shift its economy away from fossil fuels. 

'Extended period' 

Analysts say the kingdom needs oil to be priced at around $80 per barrel to balance its budget. 

There are signs recent supply cuts are starting to have the desired effect, with oil prices "strengthening", the Riyadh-based firm Jadwa Investment said in a report published on Tuesday. 

"Brent was trading at around $85 [per barrel] in late July, up by some $10 [per barrel] from the beginning of the month," Jadwa said. 

"Sour crudes, which dominate Saudi Arabia's output, are especially in vogue. Meanwhile, there are hopes that US demand will be stronger than expected, with many anticipating a 'soft landing' for the US economy rather than a recession." 

Yet, Jamie Ingram, senior editor at the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES), told AFP that Riyadh "will want to see an extended period of higher prices before bringing volumes back on to the market". 

He added: "Concerns over the Chinese economy are also hanging over oil markets." 

Oil giant Saudi Aramco, the jewel of the kingdom's economy, said it recorded profits totalling $161.1 billion last year, allowing Riyadh to notch up its first annual budget surplus in nearly a decade. 

But with the spiking oil prices that resulted from Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year now a thing of the past, Saudi oil activities contracted 4.2 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter, according to preliminary data published on Monday by the kingdom's General Authority for Statistics. 

Non-oil activities grew by 5.5 per cent during the same period, resulting in overall GDP growth of 1.1 per cent, the authority said.

TOKYO — Tokyo stocks tumbled more than 2 per cent on Wednesday in their biggest single-day drop this year, mirroring selling across Asian markets after Fitch cut the United States' AAA credit rating.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 2.30 per cent, or 768.89 points, to 32,707.69, while the broader Topix index ended down 1.52 per cent, or 35.60 points, at 2,301.76.

Hours before the Tokyo market opened, Fitch downgraded the United States' top-notch credit rating by a step, citing a growing federal debt burden and an "erosion of governance" that has manifested in debt limit standoffs.

Overnight on Wall Street, the broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.3 per cent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.4 per cent, while the Dow gained 0.2 per cent.

"Fitch's downgrade and rise in yields of US bonds led to selling in US high tech shares. That, in turn, weighed on the Tokyo market," Toyo Securities senior strategist Ryuta Otsuka told AFP.

"In addition to falls in US high-tech shares, rise in yields of long-term bonds in the domestic market is also accelerating stocks selling," Daiwa Securities said in a commentary. 

Japan's 10-year bond yield hit a nine-year high of 0.625 per cent on Wednesday, Jiji Press reported, reflecting the Bank of Japan's tweak last week to part of its policy tools to maintain ultra-loose monetary policy. 

The dollar fetched 142.89 yen in Asian trade, against 143.34 yen in New York late Tuesday.

Among individual equities, Uniqlo operator and market heavyweight Fast Retailing dropped 3.90 per cent to 34,530 yen, SoftBank Group lost 3.68 per cent to 6,983 yen and chip-testing equipment maker Advantest sank 4.48 per cent to 19,400 yen.

Toyota climbed 2.33 per cent to 2,502.5 yen after having gained 2.49 per cent in the previous session following its announcement of better-than-expected financial results. 

BAGHDAD — Iraq's prime minister said on Tuesday Baghdad is in contact with the United States on settling outstanding debts of $10 billion the country owes Iran for gas imports.

Iranian gas is crucial for Iraq's electricity generation, but US sanctions on Iranian oil and gas impose restrictions on how Baghdad can pay for its imports.

Iraq cannot directly hand over cash to Iran, but payments must be held in a bank account and be used by Tehran to fund imports of food and medicines.

On July 11, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani announced that Iraq would start paying for Iranian gas with oil, as a way of circumventing the complicated mechanism.

"Work is continuing with the American side concerning unpaid bills, which have fallen to 9.2 billion" euros ($10 billion), Sudani told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday, recalling that Baghdad in the last few months paid Iran around $1.9 billion it owed.

He said a delegation from Iraq's central bank and the Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI) went to Oman on Tuesday "to agree on a formula for transferring these funds to the Sultanate of Oman, in agreement with the US Treasury".

On July 24, United States State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said some funds could be transferred via Oman, which has often acted as an intermediary between the West and Iran.

"We thought it was important to get this money out of Iraq, because it is a source of leverage that Iran uses against its neighbour," Miller told reporters.

Ravaged by decades of conflict and international sanctions, oil-rich Iraq relies on Iranian gas imports for a third of its energy needs. It is also beset by rampant corruption, and suffers from dilapidated infrastructure.

Miller told the July 24 briefing that Oman would still be subject to "the same restrictions as when the money was held in accounts in Iraq, meaning that the money can only be used for non-sanctionable activities such as humanitarian assistance".

All the transactions also will need to be approved by the US Treasury Department in advance, he added.

TOKYO — Toyota reported on Tuesday a quarterly net profit of $9.1 billion as global production rebounded after major supply disruptions a year ago, but warned of "severe" competition in China.

The Japanese giant, the world's biggest automaker by sales, said net profit in the three months to June surged 78 per cent year-on-year to 1.31 trillion yen ($9.1 billion).

Sales in the firm's first fiscal quarter were 10.55 trillion yen, up 24.2 per cent from a year ago.

Toyota, including its high-end Lexus brand, sold 2.538 million vehicles worldwide, up 8.4 per cent from a year ago.

The figures beat market expectations, sending the company's stocks up almost three per cent after the announcement.

Major automakers are enjoying a robust surge of global demand after the COVID-19 pandemic slowed manufacturing activities. 

Severe shortages of semiconductors had also limited production capacity for a host of products ranging from cars to smartphones.

Toyota said that chip supplies were improving and that it had raised product prices and worked with suppliers to bring production activities back to normal.

Toyota has said its global production in the first six months of the year reached a record 5.6 million units, while sales reached 5.4 million, reinforcing its position as the world's biggest carmaker. 

However, the company is still experiencing delays for deliveries of new vehicles to customers, it added.

Toyota maintained its annual targets, including net profit of 2.58 trillion yen and sales of 38 trillion yen.

"The sales volume increased in all regions due to productivity improvement efforts promoted with suppliers, in addition to an improvement in the supply and demand situation for semiconductors, which continued for a while," the company said in a statement.

The yen's slide and foreign exchange fluctuations added 115 billion yen to Toyota's operating profit.

A better mix of models, improving sales and price revisions in overseas markets also boosted its earnings, Toyota said.

However, soaring materials prices impacted the company to the tune of 230 billion yen. 

But Toyota said it believed "market conditions, such as those for precious metals, have stabilized compared to last year".

While Toyota registered rising earnings in major markets, it suffered falling profits in China, mainly due to forex fluctuations and increased marketing costs to compete with rivals.

"Although the competitive environment is becoming increasingly severe due to the rise of local brands, Toyota and Lexus vehicle sales are steadily increasing," the company said.

BEIRUT — The central bank chief of crisis-torn Lebanon, Riad Salameh, who is wanted for alleged financial crimes in several European countries, handed over his post on Monday with no designated successor in place.

First Vice Governor Wassim Manssouri, who will temporarily take over, warned that "we are at a crossroad" and urged politicians to implement reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund in return for a bail-out loan.

"This is the country's last chance," Manssouri said at a press conference, as Lebanon has endured a four year economic crisis that the World Bank has labelled one of the worst in modern history.

Lebanon's deeply divided political class has failed to agree on a permanent replacement for Salameh, 73, creating another power vacuum in a country that also has no president and is ruled by a caretaker government.

Salameh, who held the post for 30 years, is a key figure of the Lebanese political elite widely blamed for the country's economic meltdown that has seen the currency collapse and poverty rates soar.

The central bank has extended credit lines from its depleted coffers to the cash-strapped state mainly to pay government employees, subsidise some medicine and finance the country's security forces.

Manssouri proposed to cut all central bank funding for the state while reforms are implemented, to save what is left of its depleted cash reserves.

"We can either stick to the old policies, and we have seen the result... or adopt a new approach and stop funding the state completely," he said.

'A new approach' 

Manssouri said halting funding was crucial to preserve the central bank's depleted reserves, which according to the IMF have plunged from $36 billion in 2017 to $10 billion.

Authorities must meanwhile implement reforms, including passing a 2023 budget, a capital control law and bank restructuring in the next six months, Manssouri said.

Reforms should be rolled out as part of a six-month "transitional plan", to be approved by parliament and the government, he said.

Manssouri stayed on the job after threatening to quit because the divided political leadership had promised to support him and his plans, according to local media.

Politics in Lebanon, a country of only 6 million people, is intensely complex as power is shared under a confessional system that recognises 18 Muslim and Christian sects.

Lebanon has been governed by a caretaker cabinet with limited powers for more than a year, and has been without a president for nine months.

Judicial investigations 

As Salameh left his post, he remains subject of judicial investigations at home and abroad into allegations including embezzlement, money laundering, fraud and illicit enrichment, charges which he denies.

He is wanted in France and Germany, and Interpol has issued a Red Notice for his arrest, but Lebanon does not extradite its nationals.

Salameh is soon to be tried in Paris, a European diplomatic source told AFP.

In March 2022, France, Germany and Luxembourg seized assets worth 120 million euros ($135 million) in a move linked to a probe into Salameh's wealth.

In February, Lebanon also charged Salameh with embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion as part of its own investigations.

The domestic probe was opened following a request for assistance from Switzerland's public prosecutor, who is looking into more than $300 million in fund movements by Salameh and his brother.

Defending his legacy, Salameh days ago told a local broadcaster that he had been made a "scapegoat" for the crisis, and blamed the rest of Lebanon's political class for abandoning him "a long time ago".

At the central bank headquarters, employees gathered to bid farewell to Salameh on Monday, to the sound of music and applause.

"The central bank has stood firm," Salameh told cheering employees in a video shared by local media. "During the crisis, it was a pillar that allowed Lebanon to carry on."

LONDON — British bank NatWest on Friday said it had launched an independent review into its handling of arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage, whose account it controversially shut, costing top executives their jobs following political pressure. 

The announcement by chairman Howard Davies came after the lender, 39 per cent owned by the UK government, posted a jump in first-half net profits on higher interest rates. 

The head of NatWest's private banking arm Coutts resigned Thursday, one day after Alison Rose quit as NatWest CEO. 

At the end of a crisis-hit week, NatWest said group profit after tax jumped 22 per cent to £2.3 billion ($2.9 billion) in the first six months of the year. 

Davies added in a media call that the group had appointed UK law firm Travers Smith to lead the review into the bank's handling of Farage.

"The last few weeks have been a painful period for the bank, and we apologise for the uncertainty created for customers and shareholders," Davies told reporters.

Interim chief executive Paul Thwaite added it was "an understatement to say that these are not ideal circumstances for anyone to take over".

"It's clear to me that we got some things wrong.

"It will take time to address some of those challenges, but I've already taken action. I'm determined we learn, and start to move forward quickly," Thwaite added.

'Error of judgment' 

Farage, former leader of the Brexit Party and the anti-immigration party UKIP, has complained that he was removed as a client of Coutts for his political views.

In a report which it has since apologised for, the BBC had suggested Farage's account was closed because he did not have sufficient funds to remain a client of the prestigious establishment.

Farage, a Eurosceptic politician and now a television presenter, campaigned for decades for Britain's withdrawal from the European Union and was a key figure in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

It later emerged that the BBC had spoken with Rose about Farage, and while NatWest's board initially backed her, it soon thereafter announced she was stepping down after having worked at the bank for 30 years.

Explaining the U-turn, Davies added Friday: 

"We believe that [backing Rose] was a rational decision to make at the time, However, the reaction, the political reaction to that, was such that Alison and I then concluded, and the board supported the view, that her position was then untenable.

"She would be running the bank in the face of very difficult headwinds, and therefore we made a different decision," the chairman said.

Rose had admitted making a "serious error of judgment" in speaking to a BBC reporter about Farage's banking affairs. Meanwhile Peter Flavel, chief executive of Coutts since March 2016, quit the upmarket bank Thursday.

NatWest was formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland — the lender rescued following the 2008 global financial crisis with £45.5 billion of UK taxpayers' cash in what was the world's biggest banking bailout.

Rose, the only woman CEO to have led a major UK bank, decided to rebrand the lender after her appointment in 2019, while the government has gradually cut its stake as the bank recovered.

AMMAN — Arab Bank Group reported solid results for the first half of 2023. The Group’s strong performance was driven by robust growth in its core banking business across different markets, as net profit after tax increased by 59 per cent, reaching $401 million as compared to $252 million during the same period last year.

The Group maintained its strong capital base with a total equity of $10.6 billion. Loans grew to $36.1 billion and deposits reached $48.3 billion. Excluding the impact of the devaluation of several currencies against the US dollar, loans and deposits grew by 2 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively, according to a statement from Arab Bank Group made available to The Jordan Times.

Sabih Masri, Chairman of the Board of Directors, stated that the solid financial performance during the first six months of this year underscores the resilience of the bank’s diversified business model, which is based on prudent risk management practices and is focused on achievingsustainable growth. Masri emphasised the bank’s commitment towards the executionof its innovation and digital transformation strategy to deliver the best banking experience to clients.

Randa Sadik, Chief Executive Officer, stated that the strong financial results,despite the volatility in the operating environment, is a testament to the bank’s robust assets base and strong capitalisation. Sadik highlighted that the bank’s net operating income grew by 50per cent, driven by diversified core banking activities coupled with controlled operating expenses. Provisions held during the period reflect the bank’s prudent risk management strategy against the increased economic uncertainty witnessed globally and regionally.

Sadik added that the bank is well positioned for sustained earnings growth with the support of its solid financial position, strong capitalisation and high liquidity levels. The Group’s loan-to-deposit ratio stood at 74.7 per cent, and credit provisions held against non-performing loans continue to exceed 100 per cent. Arab Bank Group maintains a strong capital base that is predominantly composed of common equity with a capital adequacy ratio of 16.8 per cent.

In line with the bank’s commitment towards sustainability, Arab Bank recently released its 13th annual sustainability report featuring its achievements in 2022 on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) fronts.

Arab Bank was named the “Best Bank in the Middle East for 2023” by Global Finance magazine for the eighth consecutive year. The bank also received the “Best ESG Integration in Jordan” award from The Arab Federation of Capital Markets in collaboration with Global Economics Magazine.